1. Technical Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to lighting systems and functional groups of fixtures in a lighting system.
2. Related Art
Lighting systems for areal illumination may comprise (1) a set of “luminaires” (light fixtures comprising mounting hardware and one or more light-emitting components, such as incandescent or fluorescent bulbs or arrays of light-emitting diodes [LEDs]), together with (2) one or more sensor components (motion sensors, light sensors, and the like), (3) control devices (such as dimmers and switches), and (4) power drivers to set the output light level of each luminaire as a function of sensor outputs and control device settings. Such systems can range in complexity from a single wall switch and bulb to commercial building lighting systems comprising hundreds of luminaires, sensors, and control devices.
One way to specify, configure, and install such systems involves the use of discrete components, where each of the components in the systems are purchased separately, and the control logic is implemented by the way the components are connected together using wired or wireless connections. Thus, each component may be separately purchased, installed, and wired together in order to create functional groups. Alternatively or in addition, certain components can be physically grouped. For example, an outdoor security light fixture can have a motion sensor built into the outdoor security light fixture, or a table lamp can have an on/off switch built in. However, such combinations may not be used, and each component is separately purchased, installed, and wired together in order to create functional groups.
As the total number of components in a lighting system increases, sophisticated control systems may be desirable. A sophisticated control system may be implemented using electronic control systems, which may include custom electronics or software running on a more general-purpose control device such as a digital computer. A trained engineer may manually connect devices in the control system, provide a description of the system to the control system hardware and software, and identify the control functions to be implemented.
The cost of discrete components as well as the cost of installation and programming labor may have inhibited wide-spread adoption of sophisticated control systems. Nevertheless, cost savings and performance benefits may be realized by intelligently managing the on-time and on-intensity of each light source within lighting systems. Potential saving in electricity usage may be large, and safety and security can be enhanced. Thus, for wide-spread adoption of sophisticated control systems, it may be desirable for the components to be inexpensive, the installation to be quick and easy, and configuration work to be possible within the skill range of an average commercial electrician or that of building maintenance personnel.
In order to reduce installation and commissioning costs as well as the skill level required to implement these tasks, it is possible to automate some of the commissioning steps. For example, co-owned and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/538,806, filed Aug. 10, 2009, entitled LIGHTING SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF AUTO-COMMISSIONING, the entire contents of which is incorporated by reference, discloses ways of auto-commissioning a lighting system by using signal sources and sensors supplied with each fixture in order to automatically determine proximity of fixtures to each other and to automatically create logical groups of fixtures. Whether or not such auto-commissioning is used, further manual configuration of the lighting system may be desirable. For example, at least two people with cell phones or walkie-talkies may coordinate with each other in the commissioning of fixtures with control systems by creating or modifying groups. A first person may operate a control station and a second person may move around a building and report where the second person is in the building. The second person may also report observed lighting behavior in order to determine which lights are controlled by what logical entity in a user interface of the control system.
Handheld programming devices have been used to aid in programming the operations of lighting systems. For example, Cash, et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0202851) discloses the use of a handheld device to program various configuration parameters for a fluorescent lighting system. The handheld device described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0202851 may communicate via an infrared link to a receiver located on a lighting “bus” to which several programmable ballasts for driving fluorescent tubes are also attached.